Your Weekly Rush

Under the heading Illustrating Absurdity . . ., Rush discussed his support for the Sharpton candidacy. Sharpton appeared on Hannity and the wussiest liberal Fox could find this last week. Rush, commenting on that, says, "Colmes asks Sharpton, "You want Rush Limbaugh's endorsement?" to which Sharpton responds, "No, I didn't aks [sic] anyone like that endorsing me." Of course he didn't "aks" for it, but I gave it to him sincerely out of my desire to help the second black man to run for the Democrat nomination to succeed."

So Rush sincerely wants to see the Democrats run a divisive candidate like Sharpton? I suppose he does. And if there was a movement for the Democrats to run a water cooler against President Bush, I'm confident that Rush would support that issue to.

Does Rush "sincerely" believe that Sharpton would make a good president? Just curious.

What's damaging is the idea that Rush puts forth that somehow the Democratic party owes it to Sharpton to give him the nomination. Because the Democratic party believes itself the party of the black people apparently any black man who wants the Democratic nomination should be able to get it. If that makes sense, please contact me and explain it.

OK, I Suck

What do you expect, I'm a Vampire.

New Albums

The new Mark Rae album, Rae Road, is quite good.

Lysistrata

For those interested in Lysistrata, the posting is down near the bottom--I posted it on Monday the 3rd. And you should go check Elayne Riggs website--she's interesting, and she linked to me, so I'm in favor of her.

Boy, was that awkwardly worded.

Anyway hope you are all doing wonderful.

Clones destroy God

According to Raëlians (ever wonder where they came up with that name?) leader, Mr. Raël, "If you can clone a human being, there is no God and no soul." Ah. But what are all these followers you have worshiping you, Mr. Raël? Well, I suppose everybody needs something to occupy their minds.

Chuck Colson, commenting on the Raelians, stated "the Raëlians are a metaphor, an incredibly powerful one portraying in living color the deadly logic of cloning. Cloning, you see, makes us our own god. We create ourselves in the image we choose. Raël may be mad, but he is entirely logical."

I am no theologian and I have my own reasons to be skeptical of cloning, but I have a hard time understanding why the ability to Clone proves there is no God. If God can put a soul into a fetus in a mothers womb (whenever and however that happens), than what stops him from putting a soul into a fertilized egg in a test tube? Do you think the glass stops him? "Oh no, I can't put a soul in this baby. Curse those Raëlians, they knew my one weakness. Test tubes." Somehow I don't think that's the way it works.

STOP

This is from an anonymous person.

"You may have noticed that many of our beloved stop signs have been "upgraded" to include a new word: "WAR" (in bad handwriting, no less). Maybe in other cities too, but Tallahassee has experience an semi-organized epidemic of spray painted Stop signs. Today I noticed a police officer removing the graffiti. I had to ask my self (as I do every time I see such a Stop sign): Is this truly an effective way to stop a war you disagree with? Apparently breaking the law is okay when you REALLY want to prevent war."

In truth, Anonymous has it dead on. This is a stupid way to protest the work and create extra work for cops--what's the point?

Also changed the quote at the top, in case you haven't noticed.

New Literary Technique

Like all Americans, I'm constantly on the prowl for new ways to get my brilliant points across. That's why I was so excited to read Ross McKenzie's latest article in which he recounts a fictional conversation between a protester and a sensible American patriot. Among the brilliant words he puts into his Liberal Dupes mouth "BUSH SUCKS," "AMERICA IS THE WORLD'S GREATEST THREAT TO PEACE," and "MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR." You can see that MacKenzie is committed to presenting the anti war point of view fairly. But just for balance, wouldn't it be nice to imagine a coffee shop, . . . no, wait a minute, no true America would ever go into a coffee shop. Lets say a Bar. And listen into a pro-war demonstrator and his counterpart.

SADDAM IS A MONSTER! HE'S KILLED MILLIONS!

Yes, and thank goodness the US was there to supply him with much of the tools necessary to accomplish that goal. And at any rate, there are monsters ruling countries all over the world, are you really comfortable with the US going around and toppling them all?

SADDAM IS SEEKING WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION!

Well, look at how we are treating North Korea. Can't really blame him. But he hasn't got them, and inspectors are making it difficult if not impossible for him to continue work. Containement has worked.

LOOK CAPTAIN APPEASER, WHY DON'T YOU GET A CLUE? SADDAM IS RUNNING RINGS AROUND THOSE INSPECTORS!

Then how did they find those missiles? And more to the point, why did the US agree to an inspection period if they had no intention of letting it play out? If we cut the inspections short, the UN will be rendered irrelevant, and the Middle East will get the message that the US has declared the Middle East it's personal playground.

YOU CAN'T WORRY ABOUT WHAT THEM RAGHEADS THINK. THEY ALL HATE AMERICA ANYWAY, THAT'S WHAT ISLAM IS ALL ABOUT.

No that's not what Islam is all about. Islamic leaders in this country and abroad have condemned terrorism for years, and yet they still have to answer why they don't fight terrorism. Dr. Agha Saeed, National Chair of the American Muslim Alliance, after the terrorist attacks on September 11, stated “These attacks are against both divine and human laws and we condemn them in the strongest terms. The Muslim Americans join the nation in calling for swift apprehension and stiff punishment of the perpetrators, and offer our sympathies to the victims and their families.” We have a fairly large population of muslims right here in the US, the majority of which are from Southeast Asia or were born in this country (and largely African-American).

LOOK, LET'S BOMB 'EM ALL AND LET GOD SORT THEM OUT

Ok, that's a little weak but makes as much sense as ending with "MAKE LOVE NOT WAR."

Lunchtime Musings

Right now I am working my way through Eric Alterman's What Liberal Media? The Truth About Bias and the News which looks like this:



Well, after reading maybe a third of it, I am coming to a conclusion--Alterman's not much better than Bernard Goldman or Ann Coulter. All he's doing is doing Ann Coulter in reverse--attacking Conservative columnists for their fabrications and what not. That's fun, up to a point, but what good is it?

Liberals can throw insults are Conservatives all day long, and Conservatives can throw them back. Both sides can say, "Well the other side has done worse then we have." or "They started it." Both do say that, in fact.

That's why I am writing a book to compete with the Coulters and the Altermans of the world. It's going to be called, "Why Don't You All Shut Up!" And it's going to be about how we as Americans can maybe discuss issues, even very divisive issues, without having to attack or destroy each other. Look for it soon (and by soon I mean later) at all good booksellers.

Translation

From an article by Brent Bozell on the anti war movement.

"Isn't it amazing that liberals, who are perpetually congratulating themselves for their unparalleled sophistication and their ability to corner the market on nuance, approach the prospect of war on television with little more intellectual heft than the rudimentary idea that war is bad?"

Translation : Liberals are sissy "intellectuals" who think they are smarter than everybody, but are really stupid.

Reality : attending a protest quickly reveals that while some don't have a clue, many have a pretty sound argument as to why we shouldn't engage in this war.

"Our 21st century flower children won't confront the ugly reality of what happens if Saddam Hussein is left to keep accumulating weapons of mass destruction."

Translation : It's all ex-Hippies who live in fantasy land.

Reality : Most people I talked to did express a concern over Saddam, and his potential acquisition of weapons of mass destruction. But they believe that the inspections will hinder that potentiality, and that containment works.

"Why not schedule some air time for the millions of Americans who aren't protesting in the streets, who aren't carrying signs smearing their president with swastikas and telling the cameras they're patriotic?"

Translation : All real Americans are 100% behind the president.

Reality : I don't think Bozell and others would be as insistent on this point if they really believed it.

More on Torts

For those who are concerned with tort reform to let doctors have to pay out less here are an interesting statistic from Sidney M. Wolfe, writing in the New York Times.

* From 1990 to 2002, just 5% of doctors were involved in 54% of malpractice payouts.

Dr. Wolfe is making the point that if state review boards acted a bit tougher with doctors who got sued, than this problem might largely go away. "Is it any coincidence that the states least likely to discipline doctors are among those with insurance crises? Pennsylvania — where the governor had to intervene to keep doctors from going out on strike over malpractice insurance costs — has disciplined only 5 percent of the 512 doctors who had made payments in malpractice suits five or more times, the lowest percentage of any state. (Arizona, for example, has disciplined nearly half of the doctors in this category.)"

Maybe state medical boards need to grow a spine and start enforcing better standards.

Supply Side Economics

Big debate in the world of conservative Economists. Apparently, President Bush's recent selection of N. Gregory Mankiw as his chief economic advisor is causing a stir. In a text book he wrote, Mankiw attacked Supply Side Economists as snake oil salesmen.

Luckily Bruce Bartlett jumped to his rescue, saying, "Mankiw was simply trying to illustrate the point that sometimes a fad can sweep the economics profession that later turns out to be false. This is indisputably true. Unfortunately, he chose a poor example to make his point. Mankiw acknowledged this fact by purging this section from later editions of his book, the third edition of which is due out shortly.

Yet even in the first edition of his textbook, Mankiw acknowledged that the Laffer Curve is correct in theory -- it simply shows that at a 100 percent tax rate or a zero percent tax rate no revenue is collected. Every economist knows that this is true. But of course, we are nowhere near a 100 percent tax rate -- nor were we in 1981 -- such that one could expect an across-the-board reduction in tax rates actually to raise revenue. Ronald Reagan never said so, nor did any other responsible economist."

So for those who have heard the argument, as I have, that you can lower taxes and the government makes more money, well that argument is just not true.

For those Who Don't Know

Lysistrata is very funny and very sexual.

Lysistrata

Lysistrata is a play about a woman in ancient Greece, who, being fed up with the constant warfare and the lack of male companionship, comes up with the novel theory that the woman of Greece can make their men less warlike by witholding sex.

Ok there's more to it than that, she and her followers take over the acropolis and force a peace treaty by refusing to have sex with the men. Lysistrata presuades the women of Sparta and Corinthia to follow her lead. To make a long story short, they succeed.

In what is being heralded as the "First-Ever World Wide Theatre Event for Peace," in over 1,000 locations, mostly today, this play is being read. One such location was here in Tallahassee (and actually there will be a second reading tonight at The Mickee Faust Clubhouse, 8:00 I believe). I attended and took pictures, as is my wont, and I have a bit of sound from the performance as well.

To hear a bit of the performance, click hear. We were outside so recording conditions were not very good--but it is reasonably clear.







Cara Rossen, who organized the event, stated "Our goal is to make our legislators and state administrators aware that the citizens of Tallahassee, and this nation, do not want to see a war in Iraq. There are so many options available to us, being the most powerful nation in the world. War is the last of those. We have to set the example and be responsible to the rest of the planet. Yes, we have the ability, but it doesn't mean we should use it. Might does not make right. I believe that we do need to take action in Iraq. I do agree that they have violated the UN's requests and directives for too long. But we need to take action against Pres. Hussein and his government, not the people of Iraq. And that's what a war is, an action against a people. And the Iraqis, at least 99% of them in my opinion, don't deserve that. They deserve our help. They have suffered enough."

In a discussion with Ms. Rossen (who is the primary voice on the MP3 as well (unless my memory is faulty, which is entirely possible)), she confirmed that she believed this war was avoidable, and that even with a UN resolution, she might not be able to support military action against Iraq.

The Competition

Just got back from the Lysistrata performance (and some shopping). While i visited the capital, couldn't help noticing this van parked near the capitol.



Look at how cold and clinical it looks. There's no warmth in it. Almost as if the photographer had used a blue filter to make the van look cold. Well here at "Make me a Commentator!!!" we are dedicated to being warm and kind and puppies. So remember, if you like puppies, make your news source "Make me a Commentator!!!"

Light updating this morning

Won't be updating much this morning, but will have a larger update with pictures later on--going to an anti war function at noon. It is a reading of Lysistrata at the capitol (in Tallahassee) at 1:00 p.m. Should be interesting.

Hope you are all having a nice day.

For Those Who Don't Know

Before he created the Simpsons, Matt Groening wrote a weekly comic strip. And after he created the Simpsons, Matt Groening wrote a weekly comic strip. Both strips, of which there was only one, was entitled "Life in Hell." My grammer is bad--at any rate, got a life in hell collection this week, and thought I'd share the love--but if you like this strip, there's lots more available. Well worth the investment, although some of the jokes do get a bit sexual on occasion.

I Have Returned

You know what's great about being a liberal. You are held responsible for the actions of all other liberals. For example, as a Liberal, I'm responsible for some 20 year old doofus holding up a sign saying Death to Bush at a rally. It's all my fault for being a liberal. If I'm uncomfortable with being held responsible for other doofus's who use the liberal name perhaps, I should change my name. Oh wait, we tried that. And it only proved our cowardness.

So I guess if I want to be a liberal I'm shackled to the doofus views of the more extreme members of the liberal sect. (Hmmmm. I wonder if there are any Conservatives with extreme views.) I mean, look at this argument from David Limbaugh. "most conservatives would agree that a reasonable case can be made to oppose the war against Iraq, and by no means are all who oppose it guilty of the attitude and behavior Mona describes in her book. But a good number of them are, and they are of the same ideological blood as their Vietnam-protesting and Cold-War-denying predecessors, and have the same egg of culpability and shame on their faces."

This question lurks behind such statements as why are leftists willing to march alongside Stalinists? (How do you stop them, particularly if they already snapped up all the permits?)_ Why don't the protesters protest Saddam instead of Bush? (Well, Saddam doesn't have to worry about protestors influencing his electorate--seems like protests in the US would have no effect against him, and they would increase the possibility of war, something the protesters don't want.)

Anyway, it's nice to be back.